Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Drug-Resistance Strategies of Early Adolescents in Mexico: Gender Differences in the Influence of Drug Offers and Relationship to the Offeror

To address increases in
substance use among Mexican adolescents, particularly females, US prevention
programs are being adapted to the Mexican cultural context. Understanding how
responses to substance offers by Mexican adolescents are shaped by gender and
relationships to those making offers is an important step in the adaptation
process. Using data from Guadalajara, Mexico middle schools (N = 431), this
pilot study tested for gender differences in the use of several drug resistance
strategies commonly taught in US substance abuse prevention interventions. Results indicated that the drug-resistance strategies of Mexican early
adolescents differ by gender, type of substance offered, and the youth's
relationship to the offeror. Contrary to previous research on older Mexican
adolescents, in this sample, females received more substance offers from age
peers than males did, and employed a wider repertoire of drug-resistance
strategies, including active strategies such as direct refusals. Gender
differences in use of the strategies persisted after controlling for number of
offers received. There were gender differences in the conditional effects of
greater exposure to offers. A larger volume of alcohol and cigarette offers
predicted females' use of direct strategies more strongly than for males, but
less strongly than males for marijuana offers. Females' use of drug resistance
strategies was more strongly associated with offers from family adults,
siblings, and cousins, while males' use of strategies was predicted more
strongly by offers from nonfamily adults. Interpretations and prevention
implications are discussed in light of changing gender norms in Mexico and
gendered patterns of substance use.